CAG reorganisation as a multi-member body on lines of Election Commission

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Last Updated: Mon, Nov 12, 2012 09:20 hrs

As the UPA Government faces sharp criticism over considering a proposal to make the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) into a multi-member body, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Monday said the experiment to turn the Election Commission from a single-member body into a multi-member body was successful.

Tewari said Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office V. Narayanasamy has already spoken on the issue, and added that he had nothing more to add to it.

"I think nothing can take away from the fact that when the Election Commission was turned into a multi-member body way back in the 90s. You know this is an experiment, which has worked successfully. But that is not say that you need to extrapolate or you need to really emulate whether to embark on a particular course with regard to the CAG or not to embark on a particular course is a collective decision, which government has to take," said Tewari.

"And I do not want to second-guess that decision or I do not want to put the cart before the house. But I am merely flagging that when another constitutional body, the Election Commission, was turned from a single-member body into a multi-member body that experiment has really stood in good stead over the decades," he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier today alleged that the Congress-led UPA government was trying to undermine the constitutional authority of the CAG.

Criticizing the Government over the proposal to make the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) a multi-member body, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said the ruling Congress Party has the track record of weakening the institutions whether it is in trouble or faces criticism.

"They are trying to undermine the institution of Comptroller and Auditor General of India. The Prime Minister earlier asserted that the observations of the CAG are disputable and they will be challenged before the Public Accounts Committee. How can the Prime Minister say that the observations of the CAG would be challenged when the matter comes before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)?" asked Naidu.

"The PAC is a committee set up by parliament and its proceedings cannot be passed on to anybody and nobody can dictate to PAC," he told mediapersons in Chennai.

Narayanasamy earlier on Sunday out rightly denied media report of the UPA Government mulling over making CAG a multi-member body, saying he was misquoted. (ANI)